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Earth Style/ Golem Blade
The Golem Blade discipline is a dueling style. It was developed some time after Bear Blade by competitive knights who liked to challenge each other to duels. The style, while effective, was destructive to the blade and eventually fell out of favor. In experienced a resurgence after the discovery of magical reinforcement and new life was breathed into the style. Development and Strategy The Golem Blade was originally developed as the "Earth Style." The style was named after fighting it was described as trying to smash through rock. It was eventually named after golems because the creature was both defensive and powerful. Unlike other styles, it aims to eliminate all wasted motion in order to conserve the energy of the user. The style strikes with the flat side of the blade typically following blocks, sometimes even ramming the opponent with the entire flat of the blade if it is big enough. This style is also known for meeting the opponent's blade head on rather than parrying or evading the blows. While this style did indeed dominate the dueling scene, the user's blade would often suffer substantial damage from taking so many hits. For a time, only the rich continued to use this style in duels, oftening owning several swords at a time. Once magical reinforcement was discovered, the style became far more practical as blades were able to take substantially more punishment. The strategy of the Golem Blade style is to outlast the opponent. It accomplishes this through either causing the opponent's blade to break against its defense, running the enemy out of stamina, or crippling the enemy through flat blade strikes. Golem Blade users often meet the blades of their opponent with a block aimed to inflict more damage to the enemy's weapon while allowing for a counter attack. Pommel strikes were also popular counter attacks or sometimes to catch an opponent off-guard. Golem Blade users often targeted the arms of their opponents when retaliating, aiming to cause a wide amount of damage with the flat of their blade. Golem Blade was sometimes criticized for never actually using the blade of the weapon, however nothing prevented a duelist from turning a flat blade attack into a slash when the time was right. While this style did well in duels, skilled Dragon Blade users could give them trouble while certain dual blade variants could also prove troublesome. Variants Unlike most styles, Golem Blade only has Single and Dual Blade variants. The Single Blade of Golem Blade was created to be used and switched between a single and two-handed grip. Most blocks are performed using both hands in order to provide the greatest defense. Single Blade: '''The user takes on a very wide stance in order to keep balance when blocking attacks. The user switches between a one-handed and two-handed grip as needed and to keep the opponent guessing. It was generally encouraged for Golem Blade users to have a significant amount of strength given their unique use of the blade. Jabs when the user had a free hand were also utilized to catch an opponent off guard. '''Dual Blade: This variant only began to exist after certain dual blade styles began to prove difficult for the single blade variant to deal with. This style was almost exclusively used by duelists to counter dual blade duelists, though it was sometimes employed against opponents that exclusively used a one-handed grip. It was created to meet furious assaults and stop them cold, again relying on conserving the user's stamina while the opponent drained theirs. Counterattacks generally didn't come until later in the fight when their opponent had slowed down.